TOM MAYNARD’S tragic death could yet be the salvation for other young sportsmen.

That is Surrey County Cricket Club chief executive Richard Gould’s hope after the inquest held last week into the death of the 23-year-old.

Regarded as one of England’s future stars, Maynard was found dead on London Underground’s District Line on June 18 last year near Wimbledon Park station after he ran from his car when stopped by police.

He had stepped onto a live rail before being hit by a train. A verdict of accidental death was returned.

A post-mortem examination showed he was nearly four times the legal limit to drive and had also taken cocaine and ecstasy in the form of MDMA after a night out with his two flatmates in Wandsworth, south London.

Maynard’s closest friends Rory Hamilton-Brown – who was then Surrey captain – and Jade Dernbach, who both had been out with him that night, said in evidence that they had no knowledge of him using drugs. All three had been playing for Surrey the previous day.

Gould, supported by legal heavyweights Lord Grabiner and Robert Elliott, conducted an internal inquiry at The Oval and supports recommendations that testing for recreational drugs should be stepped up to match that for performance-enhancing substances, with greater monitoring of behavioural patterns and performance in an environment in which struggling players can seek and receive help.

He commented: “It’s essential to have a system to help us detect if players are taking drugs and how we deal with it. We have already held a workshop with players and coaches.

“Players need to understand that they must be in the best possible physical condition to perform to the highest levels.”

Maynard had also been involved in a drunken incident 10 days earlier in Brighton for which he was disciplined, and Gould accepted that his inquiries – plus the evidence of the inquest – had revealed that a small but influential group within the team were engaged in regular drinking sessions.

He added: “That was being dealt with before Tom’s death. But it would be totally unfair to the hard-working and highly dedicated majority of the squad if they are labelled by that. They are excellent professionals.”

The arrival of South African captain Graeme Smith – and his locum Ricky Ponting – plus several senior professionals should provide guidance for younger players.

More questions are likely to be aimed at team director Chris Adams, who told one national newspaper he could "100% guarantee that there was no partying culture at Surrey".

Like all managers in that position, he must confront the criticism that if he did not know what was going on then he should have done, and if he did then what was he doing about it?

Maynard’s family said in a statement that "the results of the inquest do not define our son".

“The fact that so very many people thought the world of him is what defines him as a person," they added.

For a man with the explosive ability to have joined the greats had his life progressed, the nature of his death will – at least for some time – be more notorious.